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AN 



ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



WAS-Air HO-DE-NO-SON-NE 

OK 

NEW CONFEDERACY OF THE IROQUOJS, 

BY 

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAP^T, 

'I 

A MEMBER : 

AT ITS THIRD ANNUAL COUNCIL, 

AUGUST 14, 1845. 

ALSO, 

GENUNDEWAH, 

A POEM, 

BY 

VV. II. C. HOSMER, 

A MEMBER : 

PRONOUNCED ON THE SAME OCCASION. 

\ PUBLISUED BY THE CONFEDERACY* 



I 



ROdHESTER: 

PRINTED BY JEROME &: BROTHER, TALMAN BLOCK, 
Sign of the American Eagle, Butrulu-Strect. 

■ 1 8 l(i . 




the public mind becomes settled and compacted, is, to take 
away from men the prestige of names snd titles ; to award 
but little, on the score of antiquarian merit, and to weigh 
every man's powers and abilities, political and literaiy, in 
the scale of absolute individual capacit}^, to be judged of, 
by the community at large. If there are to be any "or- 
ders," in America, let us hope they will be like that, whose 
institution we are met to celebrate, which is ibunded on 
the principle of intellectual emulation, in the fields of his- 
tory, science and letters. 

Such are, indeed, the objects which bring us together on 
the present occasion, favored as we arc in assembling 
around the light of this emblematic Council Fire. Hon- 
ored by your notice, as an honorary member, in your young 
institution, I may speak of it, as if I were myself a fellow 
laborer, in your circle : and, at least, as one, understand- 
ing somewhat of its plan, who feels a deep interest in its 
success. 

Adopting one of the seats of the aboriginal powers, 
wliich once cast the spell of its simple, yet complicated, 
government, over the territory, a central point has been 
established here. To this central point, symbolizing the 
whole scheme of the Ixoquois system, other points of sub- 
centrahzation tend, as so many converging lines. You come 
from the east and the west, the north and the south. You 
have obeyed one impulse — followed one principle — come 
to unite your energies in one object. That object is the 
cultivation of letters. To give it force and distinctness, by 
which it may be known and distinguished among the efforts 
made to improve and employ the leisure hours of the young 
men of Western New York, j'ou have adopted a name de- 
rived from the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois, who 
once occupied this soil. With the name, you have taken 
the general system of organization of society, within a so- 
ciety, held together by one bond. That bond, as existing 
in the TOTEMIC tie, reaches, witli a peculiar force, each 



individual, in sucli society. It is an idea nolilc in itself, 
and vvorty of the tliought and care, by wliich it lias been 
nurtured and moulded into its present auspicious form. — 
The union you thus form, is a union of minds. It is a band 
of brotherhood, but a brotherhood of letters. It is a con- 
federacy of tribes, but a literary confederacy. It is an as- 
semblage of warriors, but the labor to be pursued is exclu- 
sively of an intellectual character. The plumes with which 
you aim to pledge your literary arrows, are to be plucked 
from the wings of science. It is a council of clans, not to 
consult on the best means of advancing historical research ; 
of promoting antiquarian knowledge ; and of cultivating 
polite literature. The field of inquiry is broad, and it is 
to be trodden in various ways. You seek to advance in 
the paths of useful knowledge, but neglect not the flowers 
that bedeck the way. You aim at general objects and re- 
sults, but pursue them, through the theme and story of that 
proud and noble race of the sons of the Forest, whose name, 
whose costume and whose principles of association you 
assume. Symbollically, you re-create the race. Thus 
aiming, and thus symboUzing your labors, your objects to 
resuscitate and exhume from the dust of by-gone years, 
some of those deeds of valor and renown which marked 
this hardy and vigorous race. There is in the idea of your 
association, one of the elements of a peculiar and national 
literature. And whatever may be the degree of success, 
which characterizes your labors, it is hoped they will bcnr 
the impress of American heads and American hearts. We 
have drawn our intellectual sustenance, it is true, from 
noble fountains and crystal streams. We have all Eng- 
land, and all Europe for our fountain head. But when this 
has been said, we must add, that they have been ofl-scls 
from foreign fountains and foreign streams. And nurtured 
as we have been, from such ample sources, it is time, in 
the course of our national developments, that wc begin to 
produce somclhing characteristic of the land that gave us 



6 

l)irth. No pcop!e can bear a true nationality, whicli does 
not exfoliate, as it were, from its bosom, something that 
expreses the peculiarities of its own soil and climate. In 
building its intellectual edifice, we must have not only suit- 
able decorations, but there must come from the broad and 
deep quarries of its own mountains, foundation stones, and 
columns and capitals, which bear the impress of an indi- 
genous mental geognosy. 

And where ! when we survey the length and breadth of 
the land, can a more suitable element, for the workbe found, 
than is furnished by the history and antiquities and insti- 
tutions and love, of the free, bold, wild, independent, na- 
tive hunter race f They are, relatively to us, what the 
ancient Pict and Celt were to Britain, or the Tueton, Goth 
and Magyar to Continental Europe. Looking around, over 
the wide forests, and transcendent lakes of New York, the 
founders of this association, have beheld the footprints of 
the ancient race. They saw here, as it were, in vision, the 
lordly Iroquois, crowned by the feathers of the eagle, bear- 
ing in his hand the bow and arrows, and scorning, as it 
were, by the keen glances of his black eye, and the lofti- 
ness of his tread, the very earth that bore him up. History 
and tradition speak of the story of this ancient race. — 
They paint him as a man of war — of endurance — of in- 
domitable courage — of capacity to endure tortures without 
complaint — of a heroic and noble independence. They 
tell us that these precincts, now waving with yellow corn, 
and smiling with villages, and glittering with spires, were 
once vocal with their wtir songs, and resounded with the 
chorusses of their corn feasts. We descry, as we plough 
the plain, the well chipped darts which pointed tlieir arrows, 
and the elongated jiestlcs, that crushed their maze. Wc 
exhume from their obliterated and simple graves, the pipe 
of steatite, in which they smoked, and offered incense to 
these deities, and the frngmonts of the culinary vases, 
around which, the lodge circle gathered to their forest meal. 



Mounds and trenches and dilchcs, speak of the movement 
of tribe against tribe, and dimly siuidow forth the overthrow 
of nations. There are no plated columns of marble ; no 
tablets of inscribed stone — no gates of rust-coated brass. 
But the MAN himself survives, in his generation. He is a 
WALKING STATUE bcforc US. His looks and his gestures 
and his language remain. And he is himself, an attractive 
monument to be studied. Shall we neglect him, and his an- 
tiquarian vestiges, to run after foreign sources of intellectual 
study ? Shall we toil amid the ruins of Thebes and Pal- 
myra, while we have before us the monumental enigma of 
an unknown race ? Shall philosophical ardor expend it- 
self, in searching after the buried sites of Ninevah, and 
Babylon and Troy, while we have not attempted, with 
decent research, to coUect, arrange and determine, the 
leading data of our aboriginal history and antiquities ? — 
These are inquiries, which you, at least, may aim to an- 
swer. 

No branch of the human family is an object unworthy 
of high philosophic inquiry. Their food, their language, 
their arts, their physical peculiarities, and their mental 
traits, are each topics of deep interest, and susceptible of 
being converted into evidences of high importance. Mis- 
taken our Red Men clearly were, in their theories and 
opinions on many points. They were wretched theologists, 
and poor casuists. But not more so, in three-fourths of 
their dogmas, than the deciples of Zoroaster, or Confucius. 
They were polytheists from their very position. And yet, 
there is a general idea, that under every form, they ac- 
knowledged but one divine intelligence under the name 
of the Great Spirit. 

They paid their sacrifices, or at least, respects, to the 
imaginary and phantastic gods of the air, the woods and 
water, as Greece and Rome had done, and done as blindly 
before them. But they were a vigorous, hardy and brave 
off-shoot of the original nice of iiian. They wcic full of 



8 

humanities. They had many qualities to command admi- 
ration. They were wise in council, they were eloquent 
in the defence of their rights. They were kind and hu- 
mane to the weak, bewildered and friendless. Their lodge- 
board was ever ready for the way farer. They were con- 
stant to a proverb, in their jyrofesscd friendships. They 
never forgot a kind act. Nor can it be recorded, to their 
dispraise, that they were a terror to their enemies. Their 
character was formed on the military principle, and to ac- 
quire distinction in this line, they roved over half the con- 
tinent. They literally carried their conquests from the gulf 
of St. Lawrence to the gulf of Mexico. Few nations have 
ever existed, who have evinced more indomitable courage 
or hardihood, or shown more devotion to the Spirit of inde- 
pendence than the Iroquois. 

But all their efforts would have ended in disappointment, 
had it not been for that principle of confederation, which, 
at an early day, pervaded their councils, and converted 
them into a phalanx, which no other tribe could success- 
fully penetrate, or resist. It is this trait, by which they 
are most distinguished from the other hunter nations of 
North America ; and it is to their rigid adherence to the 
verbal compact, which bound them together, as tribes and 
clans, that they owe their present celebrity, and owed their 
former power. 

It is proposed to inquire into the principles of this con- 
federacy, and to make a few brief suggestions on its origin 
and history. In the time that has been given me, 1 have 
had but little opportunity for research, and even this littley 
other engagements, have not permitted me, fully to employ. 
The little that I have to offer, would indeed have been 
confined to the reminiscence of former reading, had I not 
been called, the present season, to make a personal visit to 
the reservation still occupied by the ptincipal tribes. 

i. Prominent in its effects on thc'rise and progres of na- 
tions, m the geographical character f>t the country they 



9 

occupy. And in this respect, the Iroquois were singularly 
favored. They lived under an atmosphere the most genial 
of any in the temperate latitude. Equally free from the 
extremes of heat, and humidity, it has been found eminently 
favorable to human life. Inquiries into the statistics of 
vitality will abundantly denote this. Many of the civil 
sachems lived to a great age. And the same may be said 
of those warriors who escaped the dart and club, until they 
came to the period, not a very advanced one, when they 
ceased to follow the war path. 

They possessed a country, unsurpassed for its various 
advantages, not only on this continent, but on the globe. — 
It afforded a soil of the most fruitful kind, where they could, 
with ease and certainty, always cultivate their maize. Its 
forests abounded in the deer, elk, bear and other animals, 
whose flesh supplied their lodges. It Was irrigated by 
some of the sublimest rivers of the continent, whose waters 
ran south and north, east, and by the Alleghany's, west, 
till they all found their level, at distatant points, either in 
the Gulfs of St. Lawrence and Mexico, or in the interme- 
diate shores of the Atlantic. Lakes of an amazing size, 
compared to those of Europe, bounded this territory on the 
north and north east. Its own bosom, was spotted, with 
secondary sheets of water, like thai; of the Cayuga, upon 
whose banks we are asscmljlcd. These added freshness 
and beauty to the thick, and almost unbroken continuity 
of these forests. 

Nations doubtless owe some of their characteristics to 
the natural scenes of their country, and if we grant the 
same influence to the red sons of the forest, they had sour- 
ces of animating and elevating thoughts around them. — 
Men who habitually cast their views to the Genesee and 
the Niagara — who crossed in their light cancic, the Ontario 
and Erie, wending their way into the sublime vista of the 
upper lakes: men, who threaded those broad forests in 
search of the deer, or who descended the powerful and 



10 

rapid channels of tlic AUcgUany, ihc Susquchannah, thu 
Delaware and the St. Lawrence, in quest of their foes, must 
have felt the influence of magnitude and creative gran- 
deur, a):d could not but originate ideas favorable to liberty 
and personal independence. Their very position, became 
thus the initiatory step in their assent to power. 

2. Such was the country occupied, at the era of the dis- 
covery, by the Iroquois. They lived, to employ their own 
symbolic language, in a long lodge extending east and 
west, from the waters of the Ca-ho-ha-ta-tea* to those of 
Erie. Their most easterly tribe, the Mohawks, extended 
their occupancy to a point which they still call, with dia- 
lectic variations, Skan-ck-ta-tea, Ijeing the present site of 
Albany. To this place, or, as is more generally thought, 
to this geographical vicinity, the commercial enterprize of 
Holland, sent an exploring ship in 1609. Here begins the 
certain and recorded history ot" the Iroquois. We have 
only known them 260 years. All beyond this, is a field of 
anlicjuarian inquiry. 

From the historical documents recently obtained by the 
State from France, and deposited in the public oliices at 
the capitol, it is seen that this people are sometimes called 
the Nlne nations of the Iroquois. Algonquin tradition, 
which 1 have recently published, denotes that they origi- 
nally consisted of Eight tribes. (Oneota.) Whatever of 
truth or error, there may be in these terms, it is certain tluit, 
at the period of the Dutch discovery and settlement re- 
i'erred to, they uniibrmly described tliemselves as the Five 
Nations, or United People, under the title of AicoNosHioNi.t 
The term Ongwe Honwee, which Golden mentions as 
peculiarly applied to themselves, as proudly contradistin- 
guished from others, is a mere equivalent, in the several 
dialects, at this day, for the term Indian, and applies 
equally to other tribes, throughcjut the continent, as well as 
to themselves. JJy llie admission of the Tuscaroras into 

■"llutlsuii 'ijr Ho (It uo son nc 



n 

the confederacy, ihey became known as the Six Nations. 
The principles of tlieir compact, were such as to admit of 
any extension. They might as well, for aught that is 
known, have consisted of Sixteen as Six Tribes, and like 
our own Union, they would have been stronger and firmer 
in their power, with each admission. 

I have directed some few inquiries to their plan of union. 
It appears to have originnted in a proposal to act in concert, 
by means of a central council, in questions of peace and 
war. In other respects, each tribe was an independency. 
It had no right to receive aml)assadors from other tribes. — 
Messages delivered to a frontier tribe, were immediately 
transmitted to the next tribe in position, and by them passed 
on, to the central councils. They affirm that these mes- 
sages were forwarded, with extraordinary celerity, by run- 
ners who rested not, night or day. The power to convene 
the general council, for despatch of public business, was 
in the presiding or executive chief of the Central Tribe. 

This power to make war or peace, or cession of sover- 
eignty, was given up, on the principle of an equal union in 
all respects, without regard to numbers. It was strictly 
federative, or a union of tribes. The assent to a measure, 
was given by tribes. Whether all were required to assent, 
or a majority was sufficient, is not known. It is believed 
they required entire unanimity. 

3. But another principle, of the deepest importance, ran 
throughout the organization of all the tribes, more remote 
in its origin, and stiU more influential, it may be thought, 
in forming a more perfect union, and giving strength and 
compactness to the government. It was the plan of the 
ToTEMic Bond. This bond was a fraternity of separate 
clans in each tribe. It was based on original consanguinity, 
and marked by a heraldic device, as the figure of a quadru- 
ped, or bird. This appears to be an acient feature in their 
organization, and is also found among otiier North Ameri- 
can tribes. The Algonquin iribcs, who possess the same 



12 

organization, and from whose vocabulary we take the name, 
call it the Totem. The institution of the totem, or inter- 
fratcrnily of clans, existed, and is also found, with well 
marked features, among the Iroquois. It had, however, 
one characteristic, which was peculiar, to these nations. — 
It was employed to mark the descent of the chiefs, which 
ran exclusively by the female. The law of marriage, in- 
terdicting connexions within the clan, and limiting them to 
another, was probably established in ancient times, among 
the other nations who adhere to this institution, but, if so, 
it lias dropped, or dwindled into mere tradition. 

Totem, is a term denoting the device, or pictorial sign, 
which is used by each individual, to determine his family 
identity. As many as have the same totem are admitted 
to be of the same family or clan. In this respect, it is 
analogous to coats of arms. It differs from them in this, 
that no person can marry another of the same arms and 
totem. They are related. The reason for keeping up this 
interdict, in cases where the degree of relationship must 
often be very small, or is entirely lost, appears to be one 
of policy, and will be, as far as possible, explained. 

Originally, there appears to have been three leading 
families or clans, among all the North American Indians, 
whose devices were, respectively, the turtle, the wolf, 
and the bear. This triad of honored clans, existed and 
still exists among nations diverse in their languages, and re- 
mote in position, and may be considered as a proof of their 
common origin. These totems were regarded as of the 
highest authority — a fact which may denote either original 
paternity in these clans, or some distinguished action or 
services, analogous, perhaps, to the well known events of 
the Curatii and Horatii. 

It is certain, at least, that amongst each of the Iroquois 
tribes, as well as the great Algonquin family, there existed 
the totem or clan of the turtio, the wolf, and the bear. I 
will take, iiowever, as an illustration of the Totemic organi- 



IS 

zation of the 1ril)es, the instance of tlio Nun-do-wa-ga, or 
Senccas. The facts here employed liave recently been 
communicated to me by their distinguished chief De-o-ne- 
Ho-GA-WA. The tribe consists of eight clans. They are, 
in the order communicated, the wolf, the turtle, the bear, 
the beaver, the snipe or plover, the falcon or hawk, the deer 
and the cranes. The present reigning clan is the wolf, the 
clan to which the noted orator, Red Jacket, and my infor- 
mant, both belonged. We may assume, that what appear 
to have been fundamental principles, were actually so, and 
are to be regarded as the constitutional basis. 

Each clan is entititled to a chief. Each chief has a scat 
in council. The chiefs are hereditary, counting by the 
female line. By this law of descent, no chief could beget 
an immediate successor. And herein consisted one of the 
marked points of political wisdom in their system. It is 
this law of descent which best distinguishes it from the 
system of government of other nations on this continent, 
and in Asia. No such rule is known to exist, but may 
exist, among the Mongol race, or other Asiatic stocks, to 
whom these people have usually been traced. If so, the 
law of descent, in this regard, is indigenous and original. 
What disquisitions have we not seen, that a certain Iroquois 
chief was in the regular line of the chieftainship, by the 
father ? whereas, it is clear, that the son of a chief could 
never, in any case, succeed his father. The descent ran, 
so to say, in the line of the queen-mother. If a chief die, 
his brother, next in age, would succeed him. These failing, 
his daughter's male children, if connected with the reign- 
ing totem, would succeed. Her children constituted the 
chain of transmission ; but the heir to the chieftainship, 
whether by acknowledged succession, or by choice in case 
of dispute or uncertainty, had his claims uniformly submit- 
ted to a called council, and if approved, the sachem was 
regularly installed to the office. Councils had this right 
from an early day, and are known to have ever been very 



14 

scrupulous and jealous in its oxcrcisr, and continue to be 
so, at this time. 

By the establishment of this law of descent, the evils of 
a heriditaiy chieftainship were obviated. And the succes- 
sion was kept in healthy channels, by the right of the coun- 
cil to decide, in all cases, and to set aside incompetent 
claimants. This right was so exercised, as to give the na- 
tion the advantages of the elective pov/er, and to avail it- 
self of all its talent. 

We perceive in this system, an effective provision for 
breaking dynasties, and securing at each mutation of the 
chieftainship, a fresh line of chiefs, who were subject to a 
hfe limit. Each clan having the same right to one chief, 
a perpetual, yet constantly changing body of sachems, 
was kept up, which must necessarily change the body 
entirely in one generation. Yet, like the classes in our 
senatorial organization, the change was effected so slowly 
and gradually, that the body of chiefs, constituted a politi- 
cal perpetuity. 

In contemplating this system, there is more than one 
point to admire. History gives us no example of a con- 
federacy in which the principle of political and domestic 
union, were so intimately bound together. By the estab- 
lishment of the Totemic Bond, the clans were separated on 
the principle of near kindred, between which all marriage 
was inhibited. Every marriage between these separated 
clans, therfore, bound them closer together, and the con- 
sequence soon must have been, their entire amalgama- 
tion, had it not been provided, that each clan, through 
the female line, should preserve inviolate forever, its own 
Totemic independency. In other words, the female was 
never so incorporated into a new relation by the matrimo- 
nial tie, as to lose her family name, and her mother's an- 
cestral rights. If, for example, a deer totem female, mar- 
ried a wolf or hawk male, she was still counted in the clan 
of the deer, and never gave up her political rights, to the 



15 

Wolf or hawk clans, whicli had provitlcd for her a husliand. 
Her position may, perhaps, be better understood, by ob- 
serving that the married woman, still retained her maiden 
name — the sir name ot her family. By this means she 
preserved the identity of her clan, and with it, its heraldic 
and political rights. Not only so, the property of a female, 
never vested in, or belonged to the husband. This trait is 
still in full vogue, among each of the tribes. Its operation 
has been witnessed the present year. 

Matrons had also the right to attend and sit in council, 
and there were occasions, in which they were permitted to 
speak. For this purpose, a speaker was assigned to them, 
and this person became q, standing officer in the council. — 
It might pertain to the nations to bring in propositions of 
peace. Such propositions might prejudice the character of 
a warrior, but they were appropriate to the female, and the 
wise men knew how to avail themselves of this stroke 
of policy. We speak of the general and burdensome sub- 
jection of the female, among our Red Men — a condition, 
indeed, inseparable from the hunter state, but here is a 
trait of power and consideration, which has not yet been 
reached by refined nations. 

With respect to the cause of descent through the female 
line, it is believed there are sound and politic reasons for 
such a custom, in the nomadic state ; but we have not time 
to examine them. The whole subject of the separation of 
the tribes into a fixed member of original clans ; the con- 
nexion of these clans, preserved by the totems, and the 
selection of the female as the preserver of these totemic 
ties, is one of deep interest, and worthy of your inquiries. 
So far as the investigation has been carried, it appears, 
that the primary object of this organization was to pre- 
serve the NAMES of the original founders of the nation. — 
These founders are said to have been the cliildrcn of two 
brothers, and were cousin-germans. I3ut why preserve 
their names 1 What object was to rcsult from it r* Were 



16 

the persons who bore the names of the wolf, and the turtle 
and the falcon and other species, famed as hunters or war- 
riors ? Had tliey delivered their people, from eminent 
peril, or performed any noble act ? Had they conducted 
their people across the sea, from other countries ? Did 
they expect to return, and was this the object ol preserving 
their names, in the line of their descendants ? Or Avas the 
institution, as it docs not appear to have been, mere ca- 
price ? Nothing could give more interest to your enquiries 
than a search into these obscure matters. They are, in 
fact, at the foundation of their system of government, and 
will enable you, with more clearness, to ascertain and fix 
its j)rinciples. 

4. Of this government itself, we know very little, beyond 
the fact, that it had attained great celebrity among the 
other tribes. It was evidently founded on the overthrow 
of that of the ancient Alhjghans. It appears to have 
been full of intricacies, yet simple. A republic, yet embra- 
cing aristocratic features. A mere government of opinion ; 
yet fixed, effective, and powerful. It would be well to sift 
it, by the best lights yet within reach. These are verbal 
and traditionary. There is little to be had from books. 

If we look at the political theory of this government it 
had traits both peculiar and prescient. Their councils^ 
were not constituted, primarily, by elective representation* 
Yet they secured the chief benefits of it. The chiefs^ 
had a life office, and were incapable of transmitting it 
to their descendants. The organic council was a repre- 
sentation of tribes, not of member^. This aristocratic fea- 
ture, was balanced and its tendency to absorb authority 
prevented, by permitting the warriors to sit in these prima- 
ry councils. In these councils, there was free discussion 
and full deliberation. But there was no formal vote taken, 
nor any measure carried by counting persons, or ascertain- 
ing a majority or plurality. Tradition declares against any 
such test. The popular sense appears to have been secured 



17 

ulonc by the scope and tenor of the debates. I cannot 
learn that there ever was any formal expression, equivalent 
to the modern practice of taking of the sense of the coun- 
cil on a measure. Perhaps something of this kind is to be 
found in the approbatory response, from which the French 
are said to have made up the word Iroquois. 

If the aristocratic feature of life-sachem ship, was coun- 
teracted by the influence of the warriors in council, at the 
Council Fire of the Tribes ; this feature was shorn still 
more of its objectionable tendencies in the General or Cen- 
tral Council of the Confederacy. Chiefs attended this na- 
tional assemblage, as delegates or representatives, although 
not elected representatives, of their tribes. The number 
depended on circumstances ; and varied with the occasion. 
They were sent, or went, to deliberate on a specific ques 
tion, or questions, for which, the tribe was summoned, by 
the Executive Sachem of the Nation holding the high office 
of Attotarho,* or Convener of the Council. This central 
council, headed by this kind of a Presidency, was in fact, 
more purely democratic in its structure, than the home 
councils. It consisted essentially of a Congress of Chiefs, 
having a right as chiefs to attend, or delegated for the pur- 
pose, and aided also, by the warriors. It had the charac- 
ter of being a representative national body, delegated for 
a single session ; and of a local body of life cliiefs consti- 
tuting the home sachemry, or a limited senate. 

Such I apprehend to have been the structure of the Iro- 
quois government. It was strong, efficient and popular.- — 
It had its fixity in the life tenure of the chiefs and the cus- 
toms of proceeding. The voice of the waiTiors constitu- 
ted a counterbalance, or species of second estate. But 
practically, whatever the theory, the chief and warriors, 
acted as one body. They came, generally, to advocate, 
or announce what had already been decided on, in the 
body of the tribe. 

'The corrcspoudiiig wotU iii ihc Soiicta dKilcclio Tutl u-UaU iioh 
C 



18 

It is evident, in viewing this scheme of a native federa- 
tive government, that its tendencies were always in favor 
of the power of the separate tribes. No people ever ex- 
isted, who watched more narrowly the existence of power, 
and its innate tendency to centralize, and usurp. Suspi- 
cious to a fault, their eyes and ears were ever open to the 
least tone or gesture of alarm. They had only confided, 
to the Central Council, the power to malce war or peace, 
and to regulate public policy. This Central Council, re- 
ceived embassies, not only from the numerous nations with 
whom they warred ; but the delegates of the crowns of 
France and England, often stood in their presence. 

The assent of each tribe is believed to have been requi- 
site to an alliance, or rupture. When this had been given 
at the central council, it was explained lie fore the local 
council, and the concurrence of the body of the tribe, was 
essential to make it binding and effective. In case of war, 
there was no fixed scale by which men were to be raised. It 
was deemed obligatory for each tribe to raise men accord- 
ing to its strength. But each was left free to it^own ac- 
tion, being responsible for such action, to public opinion. 
All warriors were volunteers, and were raised for specific 
expeditions, and were bound no longer. To take up the 
war club, and join in the war dance, was to enlist. There 
was no other enlistment — no bounties — no pay — no stand- 
ing force — no public provisions — no public arms — no cloth- 
ing — no public hosj)ital. The martial impulse of the peo- 
ple was sulficient. All was left to personal clibrt and pro- 
vision. Sell" dependence was never carried to such height. 
The thirst for glory — the honor of the confederacy — the 
strife for personal distinction, filled their ranks ; and led 
them, through desert paths, to the St. Lawrence, the lUi- 
nois, the Atlantic seaboard and the southern AUeghanies. 
Nor did they need the roll of the river to animate their 
courage, or regulate their steps. Theirs was a high ener- 
getic devotion, ec)ual or su})cnor to even that of ancient 



19 

Sparta and Laccdncmon. They conquered wherever they 
went. They subdued nations in their immediate vicinity. 
They exterminated others. They adopted the fragments 
of subjugated tribes into their confederacy, sunk their na- 
tional homes into oblivion, and thus repaired the irresista- 
ble losses of war. They had eloquence, as well as cou- 
rage. Their speakers maintained a high rank along side 
of the best generals and negotiators of France, England 
and America. We owe this tribute to their valor and 
talents. One thousand such men, equipped for war as they 
were, and led by their spirit, would have effected more in 
battle, than the tens of thousands of effeminate Aztecks 
and Peruvians who shouted, but often did no more than 
shout, around tlie piratical bands of Cortez and Pizarro. 

5. I have left myself but little time to speak of the 
origin and early history of this people — topics which are 
of deep interest in themselves, but which are involved in 
great obscurity. They are subjects which commend them- 
selves to your attention, and off(3r a wide field for your 
future research. There are three periods in our Indian 
history : 

1. The Allegoric and Fabulous Age. This includes 
the creation, the deluge, the creation of Holiness and Evil, 
and some analogous points, in the general and shadowy 
traditions of men, which our hunter race, have almost uni- 
versally concealed under the allegoric figures, of a crea- 
tive bird or beast, or the exploits of some potent personage, 
endowed with supernatural courage or power. • In this 
era, the earth was also covered with monsters and giants, 
who waged war, and drove men into caves and recesses ; 
until the interposition of the original creative power, for 
their relief. 

2. The Ante-Historical period, in which tradition 
begins to assume the character of truth, but is still obscured 
by fable. This period includes the early discoveries by 
the Northmen, the reputed voyage of Prince Madoc, &c. 



20 

3. The perfod of actual history, dating irom the ear- 
liest voyage of Columbus and his companions. 

I have alluded, in a preceding part of this address, to 
the mode of studying their early history. Where little or 
nothing is to be obtained from books, it requires a cautious 
investigation of these traditions and antiquities. Ethnolo- 
gy, in all its branches, has a direct and practical bearing 
on tliis subject. The physical type of man, the means of 
his subsistence, the state of his arts, the language he speaks, 
the hieroglyphics he carves, the mounds he builds — the 
fortifications he erects, — his religion, his superstitions, his 
legendary lore — the very geography of the country he 
inhabits, arc so many direct and palpable means of ac- 
quiring historical evidence. It is from the investigation of 
these, that tribes and nations are grouped and classified, 
and the original stocks of mankind denoted, and the track 
of their dispersion over the globe traced. And they con- 
stitute so many topics of study and investigation. 

In relating their traditions, our Red Men are prone, to 
connect, (as if these were portions of a continuous and 
consistent narrative) the most recent and most remote events, 
which dwell in their memory. And from their present re- 
sidence and recent history, to run back, by a few senten- 
ces, into purely fabulous and allegoric periods. Fiction 
and fact, are mingled in the same strain. In listening to 
those relations, it is important to establish in the mind, his- 
torical periods, and to separate that which is grotesque or 
imaginative from the narration of real events. The latter, 
may be sometimes distorted by this juxtaposition, but 
it is, in general, easy to separate the two, and to re-adopt 
them, on their own principles. The early nations of 
Europe and Asia, pursued the same system. Their men 
were soon traced into gods, and their gods, soon ended in 
sensualists, or demons. Greek and Roman history, before 
the period of Hcredotus, must have been little better than 
a jargon of such incongruities, and nearly all the earlier 



•21 

part of it, is no liottcr now. To tcacli our children these 
nonsensical fables, is to vitiate their imagination, and the 
thing would never have been dreamt of, in a moral age, 
were not the ancient mythology, inseparably mixed .up 
with the present state of ancient history, poetry and letters. 
Wc must teach it as a fable, and rely on truth to counter- 
act its effects. 

The Iroquois have their full share in the fabulous and al- 
legoric periods, and an examination of their tales and tra- 
ditions will be found, I appreliend, to give ample scope to 
poetrj'- and imagination. In their fabulous age, as recor- 
ded by Cusick, they have their war, with flying Heads, the 
Stone Giants, the Great Serpent, the Gigantic Musquito, 
the Spirit of Witchcraft, and several other eras, which af- 
ford curious evidences of the way-farings and wanderings 
of the human intellect, unaided by letters, or the spirit of 
truth. 

Actual history plants its standard close on the confines 
of these benighted regions of fable and allegory. It is not 
proposed to enter into much detail on this topic. The 
modern facts are pretty well known, but have never been 
thoroughly investigated or arranged. Of the earlier facts 
in their origin and history, we know very little. The first 
writers on the subject of the Indians generally, after the 
settlement of America, dealt in wild speculations, and were 
carried away with preconceived theories, which tlestroy 
their value. Golden, who directed his attention to the Iro- 
quois, scarcely attempted any thing beyond a specific re- 
lation of transactions, which arc intended for the informa- 
tion of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and these do 
not come down beyond the peace of Ryswick. There is 
a large amount of printed information, adequate for the 
completion of their history in the 18th and 19th centuries, 
but most of the works arc of rare occurrence, and are only 
to be found in large libraries at home and abroad. Other 
facts exist in manuscript official documents, numbers of 



22 

which, have recently been obtained by the Slate, from 
foreign offices, and are now deposited in the Secretary's 
office at Albany. The lost correspondence on Indian af- 
fairs, of Sir William Johnson, may yet come to light, and 
would necessarily be impo: Uuit. Private manuscripts and 
the traditions of aged Indians, still living, would further 
contribute to their history. They are a people worthy the 
separate pen of a historian, and it may be hoped that an 
elaborate and full work, may be produced. 

Where the Iroquois originated .'' is a question, which in- 
volves the prior and general one, of the origin of the Red 
Race. So far as relates to their proximate origin, on this 
continent, I am inclined to think, that it was in the tropi- 
cal latitudes extending west from the Gulf of Mexico. — 
Facts indicate the great tide of our migration, to have been 
from that general race. The zea maize v/hich is a south- 
ern plant, came from that quarter, and was spread, as the 
tribes moved from the south to the north, the east, and north- 
east, and north west. Which of the ancient Indian stocks 
came first we know not. The Iroquois, if we follow one 
of their own authors, have strojig claims to antiquity, but 
we cannot accept this in full. That they migrated up the 
valley of the Mississippi, and the Ohio to its extreme head 
(they call the Alleghany Oheo) is probable. Our actual 
knowledge on this subject, historically speaking, is very 
small, and we must grope our way through dark and 
shadowy traditions. These, however, sustain the general 
fact stated, which is helped out by other accessions. That 
they had crossed the great artery of the continent, (the 
Mississippi river) prior to the Algonquin race, but after the 
AUeghans, is shown by the traditions of the latter. [P. W.]* 
With this race, tradition asserts, that they formed an alli- 
ance, at a remote era, and maintained a bloody war, for 
many years, against the ancient Allcghans, who arc sup- 
posed, in these wars, to have erected the fortifications and 

*Iinlian I'icturo Writinp 



23 

mounds, of the Mississippi valley. That this ancient Al- 
Icghanic empire of the West, so to call it, fell before the 
combined courage and energy of the Iro(|uois and Algon- 
quins, and that the defeated tribes either retired down the 
waters of the Mississippi, or were in part incorporated with 
themselves, or yet exist in the Far West, under other names, 
we have various traditions for asserting or believing. 

Thus far we are speaking ot the ante-historical period. 
When the colonies came to be planted, and our ancestors 
spread themselves along the Atlantic coast, from the initial 
points of settlement in Virginia, Nova Belgica, and New 
England, the Iroquois were already well seated, and spoke 
and acted, whenever they desired to make allusion to the 
matter, as if they had been forever seated on the soil they 
then occupied. To conceal the fact of their title being 
held by right of conquest, or to supply the actual want of 
history, one tribe, the Oneidas, asserted that they had 
sprung from a rock. Another, the Wyandots, alleged that 
they came out of the ground by the fiat of the great spirit. 
[Oneota.] None of them acknowledged a foreign origin 
beyond seas. None of them acknowledged, at first, that 
they knew aught of the ancient mound-builders and people 
who built the old fortifications in the West, or in their own 
country ; but they subsequently connected, or accommo- 
dated these mounds, to their war with the Alleghans. This 
is in accordance with Indian policy, and suspicious fore-n 
sight. When closely questioned, they told Gov. Clinton 
that these old works were by an earlier people, and that 
their oldest traditions related to their wars with the Chero- 
kecs, and the people of the extreme south. That they ori- 
ginally dwelt in those latitudes — that they migrated north 
through the Ohio valley, around the Alleghanies, and came 
into Western New- York li-om the borders of the Lakes and 
the St. Lawrence, are points very well denoted by their 
languages, vestiges of arts, geographical nomenclature and 
history- so far as wo have had Uie means of recording it- 

• 



\ 



24 

Carticr, in 1535, found them seated at Hochelaga, the 
present site of Montreal. They had an ancient station, as 
low down the Connecticut at least, as Northfield. Towards 
the north of lakes Ontario and Eric, they extended to the 
chain of lakes which stretches through from the northern 
shores of the former to lake Huron. It is seen from Lc 
Jeune, that they ordered the Wyandots of the ancient 
Hochelaga Canton, who had formed an alliance with the 
French and with the Algoncpins, to quit that spot, and re- 
move into the territory south of the lakes. And in default 
of this, they warred against them, and drove them west, 
through the great chain of lakes to Michiiimaekinac, and 
even to the western extremity of lake Superior. 

The period of the settlement of Canada, ripened causes 
of hostility to the entire Algonquin, or as they called them, 
Adirondak race, into maturit3^ The Wyandot alliance 
with the French gave an edge to this contest, and having 
soon been supplied with guns and amunition by the Dutch,, 
they defeated this race in several sangTiinary battles be- 
tween Montreal and Quebec, and drove them out of this 
valley, by the way of the Ontario river, and pursued them 
to their villages and hunting grounds in area of lakes Hu- 
ron, Michigan and Algoma. They deleated the Kah 
Kwahcs or Fries. They pushed their war parties, from 
the lakes, through to the Miami, the Wabash, and the Il- 
linois, on the latter of which they were encountered by 
La Salle and his people, in his early expedition, in the 
seventeenth century. Their great avenue to the west, the 
avenue by which, in part at least, they appear to have mi- 
grated at an early day, was the Alleghany river, through 
which, they continued to exercise their ancient or acquired 
authority in the Ohio valley, and the Alleghanian range. 

Back on this route, they continued their war expeditions 
against the tribes of the southern Alleghanies at and, for 
sometime, after the era of the lirst settlement of tlie coun- 
try. The point of their hoslilily, was tlirccted against the 
# 



25 

Catawbas, the Cherokees, and their allies, the Abiecas, 
Hutchecs and others. Smith encountered them on these 
wars, in the interior of Virginia, in 1608. And it is well 
known, that they brought off their brothers, the Tusca- 
roras, after the settlement of North Carolina, and gave them 
a location among themselves, and a seat at their council 
fire, in Western New- York. 

Launching their war canoes on the Delaware and the 
Susquehanna,, they extended their sway over the present 
area of New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Mary- 
land, bringing under their sovereign power, that member 
of the great Algonic family of America, who call them- 
selves Lenni Lenapees, but who are better known in our 
history as Delawares. Go which way the traveler will, 
even at this day, for a thousand miles west, southwest and 
northwest of their great council fire at Onondaga, and the 
inquirer will find that the name of a Nadowa, which is the 
Algonquin term for Iroquois, was a word of terror to the 
remotest tribes. Writers tell us it was the same through- 
out New England. By the peaceful and wise policy of the 
Dutch prior to 1664, and of the English subsequent to that 
date, this confederacy was kept in our interest ; and he 
must be a careless reader of our history, who does not 
know, that they formed a perfect wall of defence against 
the encroachments of the French Crown upon our territo- 
ries. It was to curb this power, and gain some permanent 
foot-hold on the soil, that La SaUe built fort Niagara in 1678. 
Vandruiel, the Governor General of New France, could 
give no stronger reason to his King, for taking post on the 
straits of Detroit, and fortifying that point, in 1701, than 
that it would enable him to " curb the Iroquois." [Oneota.] 

But, I do not stand before you to enter into a critical 
history of the loroquois' powers. Who has not heard of 
their fame and prowess — of their indomitable courage in 
war, — of their admirable policy in peace : of tlieir elo- 
quence in council : of the noble lire of patriotic indepen- 



dence, Which led them to defend the integrity of their soil 
against all invoders ; and of the triumphs they achieved, 
throughout Aboriginal America, by the wisdom of their 
principles of confederation. The history of their rise and 
early progress, we shall probably never satisfactorily know. 
It is said by early writers, that the origin of their confedera- 
tion was not very remote. But so much as we know of 
them — so much of their career as has passed while we 
have been their neighbors, proves that they had well estab- 
lished claims to antiquity — that they were a free, bold and 
valorous stock of the human race — that they had thought 
to plan, language to express, and energy to execute. — 
Compared to other races north of the tropics, there were 
two principles, apparent in their history, which give them 
the palm, as statesmen and warriors, although in some oth- 
er departments of intellectual attainment, they were pro- 
bably excelled by certain of the Algonquin s. I allude to 
the principles of political union ; and the wise and humane 
policy, which led them to adopt, into their body, the rem- 
nants of the nations whom they conquered. Here were 
two elements of political power, in which they were not 
only a century in advance of all the other stocks- of the 
north ; but they were in advance of the most prominent 
examples of the semi-civilized Indian tribes of this day. — 
Neither the Choctaws, the Cherokees, or other expatriated 
tribes now assembled on the Neosho territory, west of the 
Mississippi, although they adopted governments for them- 
selves, have had the wisdom to adopt a general union. — 
The worst and most discouraging fact to the friends of the 
aboriginal race, in these Tribes, is, that they will not con- 
federate. Discord, internal and external, has assailed them 
with great power, in late years, and threaten even to de- 
feat the humane policy of the government, in their colo- 
nization. 

So superior were the Iroquois, in this particular, so deep- 
ly imbued were their minds with the wisdom of union ; 



27 

that had the discovery of the continent, been postponed 
half a century longer, they would have presented a com- 
pact representative empire in North America, far more 
stable, energetic and sound, if not so brilliant as that of 
Mexico. They were a people of physically better nerve 
and mould. Of ample stature and great personal activity 
and courage, they were capable of offering a more efficient 
resistance to their invaders. The chmate itself was more 
favorable to energetic action ; and it.can scarcely be deem- 
ed fanciful to assert, that had Hernando Cortez, in 1519, 
entered the Mohawk Valley, instead of that of Mexico, 
with the force he actually had, his ranks would have gone 
down under the skillfulness of the Iroquois' ambuscades, 
and himself perished ingloriously at the stake. 

The number of warriors they could bring into the field, 
was large, although it has probably been over-rated. Let it 
not be overlooked, in estimating the ancient vigor and mili- 
tary power of this race, that in 1677, one year after the 
Jinal transfer of political power, in New- York, from the 
Stadtholder of Holland to the British crown, the Iroquois 
wielded more than 2000 hatches. [Clint's Dis. N. Y. Col. 
Vol. 2, p. SO.] Sixteen hundred of these warriors, are es- 
timated to have ranged themselves on the side of Great 
Britain, in the memorable contest of the Revolution. 

Misled in this contest, they certainly were — doubting 
long which of two branches of the same white race, they 
should side with, but overpowered by external pomp, by 
specious promises, and by false appearances, they commit- 
ted a fatal mistake. They fought, in fact, against the very 
principles of republican confederation, which they had so 
long upheld in their own body, and whicli, I may add, had 
so long upheld them. They perilled all upon the issue, 
and the issue went against them. Their great and elo- 
quent leader Thayendanegea, better known as Joseph 
Brant, had been educated in British sciiools, he could 
speak two tongues, and his counsels prevailed. He was 



28 

not in the old line of the chieftainship, but had placed him- 
self at the head of the confederacy by his brilliant talents, 
and by favorable circumstances. That line fell with the 
great Mohawk sachem Hendrick, at the battle of lake 
George, in 1755, and with the wise civilian Little Abra- 
ham, who in right of his mother, succeeded him, and 
died at his Castle at Dionderoga. Brant was, however, 
a man of great energy of character, of shrewd principles 
of policy, and of great personal, as well as moral courage. 
As a war captain and a civil leader, the Red Race of 
America has produced no superior. He led 1580 toma- 
hawks against the armies of the Revolution — at his war 
cry 15,000 arrows were launched from their fatal bows. 
The voice of Kirkland — the voice of Schuyler — the voice 
of Washington were exerted in vain. Had he hearkened 
to these friendly voices, the Iroquois confederacy would 
now have stood in the plenitude of power, and we should 
not have assembled to-day to light the fires of this Young 
Institution from its dying embers. 

These things are past. The contest of the revolution 
was one, which our fathers waged. Many of you may have 
heard the graphic recitals of those days of peril, as I have, 
from the lips of actors, wlio now rest from their toils. — 
They were days of high and sanguinary import. The 
deeds of daring which they brought forth, came hke a 
mighty tempest over the face of this fair land. It prostra- 
ted many a noble trunk. It swept for seven long years, 
over the beautious lakes and forests, which now constitute 
our homes. It left them almost denuded and desolate. 
But the mild airs and gentle summer winds of peace suc- 
ceeded. The hoarse voice of the Iroquois, 0-way-ne-o, 
has been transformed into the soft and silver tones of God. 
Flowers and fruits, and fields of waving grain, soon rose 
up in every valley, and slicd their fragrance along every 
sylvan shore. Joy and prosperity succeeded the aiTowy 
storm of war. And it has been given to us, to carry out 



scenes of improvement, and of moral and intellectual pro- 
gress, which providence, in its profound workings, has deem- 
ed it best for the prosperity of man, that wr, and not t/tey, 
should be entrusted with. Wo have succeeded to their 
inheritance : but we regard them as brothers. We cherish 
their memory : we admire their virtues ; and we aim to res- 
cue from oblivion their noble deeds. 

I have merely alluded to the importance of the Iroquois 
decision at the critical period, 1776. The erroneous pohcy 
they adopted, with some exceptions, is among the events 
of past times, which wiser and more learned and resplen- 
dant nations, than they professed to be, have committed- 
We regret the error of the decision, but we hold fellow- 
ship with the man. He is our brother ; and we meet this 
day to consecrate a literary institutiou in the land, more en- 
during, we trust, than deeds of strife and battle, and better 
suited to elicit studies to exalt the heart and dignify the un- 
derstanding. Your weapons are not spears and clubs, but 
letters. Your means are the quiet and peaceful paths of 
inquiry. If these paths are often obscured by the foot of 
time and tangled by the intcrlacnngs of history and nntiqui- 
ty, be it yours to put the branches aside, and lead the right 
way. Truth is your aim, and justice and benevolence 
your guides. They hold before 3'^ou the lamp of science 
so clearly, that you cannot mistake your way. While you 
essay, with modesty and diligence to tread in this path, 
and render justice to a proud and noble branch of the abo- 
riginal race, your ultimate ends are moral improvement, 
the accumulation of useful facts, and the general advance- 
ment of historical letters. 

You have selected, out of a wide field of aboriginal na- 
tions, the history and cthnogrnphy of the Iroquois, as the 
theme of your particular inquiries. To us, at least, these 
Tribes, stand in the most interesting relations. They oc- 
cupied our soil ; they gave names to our rivers and moun- 
tains. They figure in the foreground of our history. TIr- 



very names of the minor streams and lakes wc dwell be- 
side, bring up, by association, the free and bold race, who 
once claimed them as their patrimony. Before Columbus 
set out, on his solitary mule, to solicit the patronage of Fer- 
dinand and Isabella, they were here. Before Hudson 
dropped anchor north of the, to him, wonderful peaks of 
the Ontiora, or Highlands, they were here. Other Indian 
races have left their names on other portions of the conii- 
nent. The names of the Missouri and Mississippi, the Al- 
leghany and the Oregon, we trace to other stocks of red 
men. But the Akonoshioni, or Iroquois, has consecrated 
the early history of Western New- York. Their history is, 
to some extent, our history ; and we turn, with intellectual 
refreshment from the thread-bare themes of Europe and 
the Europeans, to trace the humble sepulchres where the 
Iroquois buried his dead — the mounds, which entombed 
his rulers or his battle slain, — or lifted on high, his sacrifi- 
cial lights — the long and half oblitered trenches of embank- 
ments which encompassed his ancient towns — the heaps of 
stone that lie at the angles and sally ports of his simple 
fortresses, on the circular trenches, which enclosed his 
beacon fires on the mountain tops. It is in localities of this 
kind, that the ploughman turns up fragments of the Red 
Man's time wasted and broken pottery — his stone pestles, 
his carved pipes, and his sldlfully chipped arrow heads, 
and spear heads, and tomahawks of stone. These, and 
analogous remains, are the objects of our antiquarian re- 
searches. Prouder monuments he had none. There was 
neither column, nor arch, statue nor inscription. But we 
may trace, by a careful inspection of the objects, the state 
and progress of his ancient and rude arts. We may de- 
note, by their occurrence, in the same localities, the era of 
the arrival of the white man. Wc may establish other 
eras, from geological changes, — the growth of forest trees, 
and other inductive means. 

There arc three eras in American antiquity. 



31 

1. Vestiges of their primary migration and origin. 

2. Vestiges of their international changes and intestine 
wars, prior to the discovery of the continent by Columbus. 

3. Evidences of wars, migrations and remains of occu- 
pancy, subsequent to the arrival of Europeans. 

These are to be studied in the inverse order of their be- 
ing stated. We must proceed from the known to the un- 
known — from the recent, to the remote. 

Ethnography offers a species of proof, to determine the 
migrations and divisions in the original family of man, 
which is to be drawn from geographical considerations — 
the relative position of islands, seas and continents — the 
means of subsistance as governed and limited by climate, 
and soil ; the state of ancient arts, agriculture, languages, 
&c. 

Philology denotes the affinities of nations, by the analo- 
gies of words, and forms of syntax, and the place of ex- 
pressing ideas. 

The remains of arts, monuments, inscriptions, hierogly- 
phics, picture writing, and architecture, constitute so many 
means of comparing one nation with another, and thus 
determining their affinities ; and although most of our abo- 
riginal nations had made but little progress in these depart- 
ments, the state of ruins in JNIcxico, Central Mexico and 
Yucatan ; the mounds and fortifications of the West ; and 
even the remains of forts and barrows in Western New- 
York, entitle them to consideration. 

There is another departiacnt of observation on our abo- 
rigines, which, from the light it has shed on the mental 
characteristics of the Algic, and some other stocks, offers a 
new field for investigation. I allude to the subject of the 
imaginative legends and tales of the Red Race. Such 
tales have been found abundantly in the lodge circles of 
the tribes about the Upper Lakes and the source of the 
Mississippi. They reveal the sources of many of their 
peculiar opinions on life, death, and immortality, and open. 



if 1 may so say, a vista to the philosophy of the Indian 
mind, and the theory of his religion. 

An ample field for investigation is thus before you. And 
it is one lull of attractions alike for the man of science, re- 
search, l^rned leisure and philosophy. But it is not alone 
to thesef that the Red man and his associations, present a 
field for study and contemplation. His history and exist- 
ence on this continent, is blended with the richest sources 
of poetry and imagination. His beautiful and sonoroTis geo- 
graphical nomenclature alone, has clothed our hills and 
lakes and streams, with the charms of poetic numbers. — 
The Red man himself, who once roved these attractive 
scenes, with his bow and arrows, and his brow crowned 
with the highest honors of the war path and the chase, was 
a being of noble mould. He felt the true sentiment of 
independence. He was ca,pable of high deeds of courage, 
disinterestedness and virtue. His generosity and hospi- 
tality were unbounded. His constancy in professed friend- 
ship was universal, and his memory of a good deed, done 
to him, or his kindred, never faded. His breast was ani- 
mated with a noble thirst of fame. To acquire this, he 
trod the war path, he submitted to long and severe priva- 
tions. Neither fatigue, hunger or thirst were permitted to 
gain the mastery over him. A stoic in endurance he was 
above complaint, and when a prisoner at the stake, he tri- 
umphed over his enemy in his death song. The history of 
such a people must be full of deep tragic and poetic inci- 
dents ; and their antiquities, cannot fail to illustrate it. — 
The tomb that holds a man, derives^ all its moral interest 
from the man, and would be destitute of it, without him. 
America is the tomb of the Red man. 

A single objection, to the plan of the institution, remains 
to be answered. It may be deemed too intricate and com- 
ple.\ to secure unity in action. The inquiries are admitted 
to be interesting and capable of furnishing intellectual ali- 
ment lor a literary society ; but why nut establish it on 



33 

plain principles, in tlie ordinaiy mode ? All tliat is sought, 
it may be said, could be accomplished without such a 
weight of associated machinery. By organizing it on the 
basis of the several tribes, and the several clans of each 
tribe ; spreading over so wide an area of territory, and 
adopting so many of the aboriginal peculiarities, in terms, 
form of admission, and you have exposed the institution to 
serious objections, and to the danger of an early decline. 
But, are not these traits, rather the guarantees of its suc- 
cess and perpetuity? It addresses itself, particularly to 
the Young. To them, it brings the attractions of novelty. 
Much of the ardor of association and desire of action, pe- 
cuUar to this age, may find its gratification in these co-fra- 
ternal, and ceremonial observances ; and be supposed to 
act as stimulants to the higher, and alterior objects of the 
association. These objects are, both in their nature, and 
associations, of an inspiring cast. They bring before you, 
a new world, with its ancient inhabitants, as themes of 
contemplation. And these themes spring up, with a fresh- 
ness and vigor, well suited to attract the pen and pencil. — 
Tired with pouring over the dusty volumes, which detail 
the ruins of the temples and cities of the eastern hemis- 
phere, the spirit of research asks, whether, in the very 
magnificence of the continent, there be not now a temple, 
whose history is worth study ? Cloyed with the accounts 
handed down of the renowned places and renowned men 
of antiquity, it is inquired, whether these broad forests and 
far-spread vistas of woods and waters, do not conceal 
something of the foot-prints of past time, which is worth 
labor and learning to investigate, and reveal .'' 

Nature is found here, in some of her sublimest moods. 
She is still in her questive youth, but it is a youth of gigan- 
tic proportions. Her largest rivers occupy thousands of 
miles in displaying their winding channels, between these 
sources and their outlets, in the sea. Her broad forests 
still wave with their leafy honors unshorn. Her lakes oc- 



oupy a length and breadth and depth, which give them far 
moiie the aspect of seas. Ships, bear a heavy commerce 
on their bosoms, and navies have battled for supremacy 
upon their ample breasts. It is a region destined for the 
human race to develope itself and expand in. It is a seat 
prepared for the re-union of the different stocks of mankind. 
It is an area of magnificent extent. Higher mountains fill 
other parts of the w^orld, and other parts of this continent. 
The Alps, the Atlas, the Andes and the Cordilleras reach 
into the skies, but they encumber the earth with their vast 
proportions, and render the surface sterile. They take 
away from the area of tillable soil, and add it to waste and 
unprofitable districts. If our greatest elevations, are hum- 
ble compared to these, they are clothed with verdure, and 
break into countless vallies, which afford a habitation to 
man. No country on the globe abounds with so many beau- 
tiful lakes of every size, and our rivers display a succes- 
sion of cataracts and falls, alike attractive to the eye of 
taste and art. 

Is all this profusion designed to employ the pens of 
naturalists and statesmen only? Is there no field in the 
mighty past, for the philosopher and the historian ? for the 
ethnologist and the antiquarian ? Is civilized man alone the 
only object, wanting in the consideration of its former his- 
tory ? We answer, no. Centuries on centures have pass- 
ed away, since first the Red man planted his foot on this 
continent. The very paucity of his knowledge and sim- 
plicity of his arts, tell a stoiy of great antiquity. The 
diversities of language answer to the same end. And, for 
aught that is known, long before the eras of Socrates and 
Pythagoras, Plato and Confucius, the Mongol and the Per- 
sian. The Tartar and the Mc^sopotamean, the Chinese 
and Japanese, and we know not how many other shades 
of the Red man of Asia, were in AWONEO* or America. 
<)!' their wonderful liistories and wars and ovcrlurnings, 

♦Onondaga. 



35 

by land and sea, of their mixtures and intermixtures of 
blood and language and lineage and nationality, we know 
little, or nothing. But, after all the centuries of sepn ration , 
we find in his physiological characteristics and conforma- 
tion of visage and expression, the same Asiatic type of 
man — whom the first adventurers to these shores, did not 
hesitate to pronounce the man of India. Use, has perpetu- 
ated the term, and if the discoveries of geography, have, 
ages since, shown the appellation of Indians, in the sense 
then employed, to be incorrect, physiologists and ethnogra- 
phers, have but found stronger and stronger proofs, that 
Asia, in preference to every other quarter of the globe, was 
the true land of his origin. 



PREFACE, 



In Indian mythology may be found the richest poetic materials. An 
American Author is unworthy of the land that gave him birth if he passes 
by with indiflerence this well-spring of inspiration, sending liberally forth 
a thousand enchanted streams. It has given spiritual inhabitants to our 
valleys, rivers, hills and inland seas ; it has peopled the dim and awful 
depths of our forests with spectres, and, by the power of association, given 
our scenery a charm that will make it attractive forever. The material 
eye is gratified by a passing glimpse of nature's external features, but a 
beauty, unseen, unknown before, invests them if linked to stories of the 
past, in the creation of which fabling fancy has been a diligent co-worker 
with memory. 

The red man was a being who delighted in the mystical and the wild . — 
it was a part of his woodland inheritance. Good and evil genii performed 
for him their allotted tasks. Joyous tidings, freedom from disease and dis- 
aster — success in the chase, and on the war path were traceable to the 
Master of Life and his subordinate ministers : — blight that fell upon the 
corn was attributed, on the contrary, to demoniac agency, and the shaft that 
missed its mark was turned aside by the invisible hand of some mischievous 
sprite. Deities presided over the elements. The Chippewas have their 
little wild men of the woods, that remind us of Puck and his frolicsome 
brotherhood, and the dark son of the wilderness, like our first parents 

— " from the steep 
Of echoing hill or thicket often heard 
Celestial voices." 

My tent is pitched on the hunting grounds of the Senecas, (or So-non- 
ton-ons) and I deem it not inappropriate to select for my theme the Le- 
gend of tlieir origin. 

Different versions of the story are in circulation, but I have been guided 
mainly, in the narrative part of my poem, hy notes taken down after an 
interview with the late Captain Horatio Jones, the Indian Interpreter of 
the Six Nations. 

Tlic great hill at the head of Canandaigua Lake, from wliencc tlie Sene- 
cas sprung, is called Genundcwaii. Tradition says tiial it was crowned 
by a fort to whirii the braves of the tribe resorted at night-fall, after 



38 

waging war with a race of giants. These giants were worshippers of 
Ut-co, or the Evil Spirit, who sent, after their extermination, a great ser- 
pent to destroy the conquerors. Quitting its watery lair in Canandaigua 
Lake, the monster encircled their fortification. The head and tail comple- 
ted a horrid ring at the gateway, and, when half famished, the wretched 
inmates vainly attempted to escape. All were destroyed with the excep- 
tion of a pair, whose miraculous preservation is related in the poem that 
follows. Ever after Genundewah was a chosen seat of Iroquois Council, 
and wrinkled seers were in the habit of climbing its sides for the purpose 
of offering up prayers to the Great Spirit. 



GENUNDEWAH, 

[a legend of canandaigua lake.] 

BY WILLIAM H. C. IIOSMER. 

WRITTBN AT THE REQUEST OF THE "NEW CONFKDKRATION OF THE IROQUOIS," AND PRO - 
N'OUNCBD BEFORE THEM IN GENERAL COUNCIL, AT AURORA, AUGUST 14th, 1845. 



Why, Chieftain, linger on this barren hill 
That overbrows yon azure sheet below ? 
Red sunset glimmers on the leaping rill, 
Dark night is near, and we have far to go. 
This scene — replied he leaning on his bow — 
Is hallowed by tradition — wondrous biith 
Here to my Tribe was given long ago ; 
We stand where rose they from disparting earth 
To light a deathless blaze on Fame's unmouldering hearth. 

n. 

A fort they reared upon this summit bleak 
Guided by counsel from the Spirit Land, 
And clad in dart-proof panoply would seek 
The plains beneath each morn, a valiant band, 
And warfare wage witli giants hand to hand : 
They conquered in the struggle, and the bones 
Of their dead foeraen on the echoing strand 
Of the clear lake lay blent witli wave-washed stones. 
And pale, unbodied ghosts filled air with hollow moans, 

in. 

Ut-co, the scowling King of Evil, heard 
The voice of lamentation, and wild ire 
The depths of his remorseless bosom stirr'd ; 
Of that gigantic brood he was the sire, 
And flying; from iiis cavern, arched with lire. 



40 



He hovered o'er these, waters — at his call 
Up rushed a hideous monster, spire on spire ;■ 
Call so astounding tliat the rocky wall 
Of this blue chain of hills seemed tott'ring to its fall 



'^ 



With his infernal parent for a guide, 
The hungry serpent left his watery lair, 
Dragging his scaly terrors up the side 
Of this tall hill, now desolate and bare : 
Filled with alarm the Senecas espied 
His dread approach, and launched a whizzing shower 
Of arrows on the foe, whose iron hide 
Repelled their flinty points^and in thad hour 
The boldest warrior fled from strife with fiendish power. 



The loathsome messenger of wo and death' 
True to his dark and awful mission wound, 
Polluting air with his envenom'd breatli. 
Huge folds the palisadoed camp around : 
Crouched at his master's feet the faithful hound, 
And raised a piteous and despairing cry ; 
No outlet of escape the mother found 
For her imploring infants, and on high 
Lifted her trembling hands in voiceless agony. 

VI. 

Forming a hideous circle at the gate 
The reptile's head and tail together lay ; 
Distended were the fang-set jaws in wait 
For victims, thus beleaguered, night and day ; 
And not unlike the red and angry ray 
Shot by the bearded comet was the light 
Of his unslumbering eye that watched for prey ; 
His burnished mail flashed back the sunshine bright, 
And round him pale the woods grew with untimely blight. 



When famine raged within their guarded hold, 
And wan distemper thinn'd their numbers fast, 
Crowding the narrow gateway young and old 
With the fixed look of desperation passed 
From life to dreadful death — a charncl vast — 



41 

The reptile's yawninjr throat entombed the strong, 
And lovely of tho Tribe : — remained at last 
Two lovers only of that mighty throng 
To chauat with feeble voice a nation's funeral song. 



Comely to look on was the youthful pair : — 
One, like the mountain pine erect and tall, 
Was of imposing presence ; — his dark hair 
Had caught its hue from night's descending pall ; 
Light was his tread — his port majestical, 
And well his kingly brow became a form 
Of matchless beauty : — like the rise and fall 
Of a strong billow in the hour of storm 
Beat his undaunted heart with glory's impulse warm. 



Graced was his belt by beads of dazzling sheen 
And painted quills — the handiwork of one 
Dearer than life to him ; — though he had seen 
From the gray hills, beneath a wasting sun, 
Only the snows of twenty winters run. 
The warrior's right his scalp lock to adorn 
With eagle plumes in battle he had won r 
O'erjoyed were prophets old when he was born, 

And hailed him with one voice " First Sunbeam of the Morn. 

X. 

The other ! — what of her ? — bright shapes beyond 
This darkened earth wear looks like those she wore ; 
Graceful her mien as lilly of the pond 
That nods to every wind tliat passes o'er 
Its fragrant head a welcome : — never more 
By loveliness so rare will earth be blest ; 
Softer than ripple breaking on the shore 
By moonlight was her voice, and in her breast 
Pure thought a dwelling found — tlie Bird of Love a nest. 

XI. 

Round her would hop unscared the sinless bird, 
And court tlie lustre of her gentle glance, 
Hushing each wood-note wild whene'er it heard 
Her song of joy : — her countenance 
Inspired beholders with a thought tliat chance 

F 



42 

Had borne hor hither from some better land : — 
To deck her tresses for the festive dance 
Girls of the tribe would bring, with liberal hand, 
Blossoms and rose-lipped shells from bower and reedy strand. 



A thing of beauty is the slender vine 
That wreaths its verdant arm around the oak 
As if it there could safely intertwine 
Shielded from rini^ing axe — the lightning stroke — 
And like that vine the girl of whom I spoke 
Clung to her companion : — scalding tears 
Rained from her elk-like eyes, and sobs outbroke 
From her o'er-labored bosom, while her ears 
Were filled with soothing tones that did not hush her fears. 

xm. 

Mourner ! the hour of rescue is at hand F 

This hill will tremble to its rocky base 

When Ou-wee ne-you utters stern command ; 

Joy ere another fleeting moon the trace 

Of clouding sorrow from thy brow will chase : — 

Fear not ! — for I am left to guard thee yet 

Last of the daughters of a lucldess race ! 

We must not in the time of grief forget 

That light breaks forth anew from orbs that darkly set. 



Thus, day by day, would O-wen-do-skah strive 
To cheer the drooping spirits of the maid. 
And keep one glimmering spark of hope alive ; 
In the deep midnight for celestial aid, 
While cowered the trembler at his knee, he prayed 
In tones that might have touched a heart of rock : 
One morn exclaimed he — " be no more afraid 
Bright, peerless scion of a broken stock, 
For Heaven the monster's coil is arming to unlock. 



" Reserved for some high destiny despite 
The downfall of our people we live on — 
My dreams were of deliverance last night, 
And peril of impending doath withdrawn; 
A lijrjit, my weeping one. beginti to dawn 



43 

On the thick gloom by sorrow round us cast ; 
The lead-like pressure of despair is gone, 
And rides a viewless courier on the blast 
Who whispers — Lo! the hour of vengeance comes at last. 



" Gorged with his meal of gore unstirring sleeps 
In his tremendous ring our mortal foe : 
Film-veiled his savage eye no longer keeps 
Grim watch for victims — warily and slow ! 
Follow thy lover arrived with bended bow 
Of timber shaped, in many a battle tried — 
Some guardian spirit will before me throw 
A shield by human vision undescried 
Should he awake in wrath, and hence our footsteps guide." 



It was 1 ween a sight to freeze each vein 
That courses throtigh our perishable clay 
When sallied forth with muffled tread the twain ; 
A look of wild, unutterable dismay 
Convulsed Te-yos-yu's* visage while the ^vay, 
A spcar-length in advance, her lover led : 
Reaching the portal paused he to survey 
The dangerous pass through which a grisly head 
Deprest to earth he saw, its mouth with murder red. 



" Onl On !" — he whispered—" and the sightless mole 
Our footfall must not hear, or wc are lost :" 
Nerved to high purpose was his war-like soul 
As the dark threshold of the gate he cross'd ; 
But fear that instant chilled his limbs with frost, 
For high its swollen neck the monster raised 
Gore dripping from its jaws with foam embossed. 
And rimmed with fire, and circling eye-ball blazed 
As light unwounding dart its horrid armor grazed. 



Sick by a foul and fetid odor made 

Recoiled the champion from unequal fray ; 

Cut off all liopc of rescue, he .surveyed 

Fiercely the danger like a stag at bay : 

Where was To-yos-yu ? — she had swooned away, 

*Bri(;htcyo. 



1 



44 



And hoof-crushed wild-flower of the foroet brown 
Resembled her as soiled with mould she lay ; 
Long on the seeming corpse the chief looked down, 
For 'twas a sight the cup of his despair to crown. 



Kneeling at length, upheld he with strong arm 
Her beauteous head, but in the temples beat 
No pulse of life : — tears gushing fast and warm 
Refresh a heart, of transcient ill the seat. 
As raindrops cool the summer's midday heat ; 
But when descends some desolating blow 
That makes this world a desert, how unmeet 
Is outward symbol ! — and far, far below 
The water-mark of grief was Oh-wen-do-skah's wo ! 

XXI. 

In broken tones he murmured — " must the name 
Of a great people be revived no more, 
And like an echo pass away their fame. 
Or moccasin's iaint impress on the shore 
Of the salt lake when billows foam and roar ? 
Black night enwraps my soul, for she is dead 
Who was its light — desire to live is o'er !" 
Scarce were these words in mournful accent said, 
When peals of thunder shook low vale and mountain-head. 



Up sprang the Chief; — and on a throne of cloud, 
Robed in a snowy mantle fringed with light. 
The Lord of life beheld : — the forest bowed 
Its head is awe before that presence bright, 
And a wild shudder at the dazzling sight 
Ran tlirough the mighty monster's knotted ring 
Shaking the hilU from base to rocky height ; 
Rose from her trance the maid with fawn-like spring, 
And balanced in mid-air the bird on trembling wing. 

XXIII. 

' Notch on the twisted sinew of thy bow 
This fatal weapon' — On-wee-ne-you* cried, 
Dropping a golden shaft — " and pierce the fos 
Under the rounded scale that wall his side" ! 
Then vanished, while again the valley wide 

"Great Splrii /-, 



45 

And mountain quaked with thunder : — from the ground 
The warrior raised the gift of Heaven, and hied 
On his heroic mission while around 
Tne liill with closer clasp his train the serpent wound. 



Flame-hued and hissing played its nimble tongue 
Between thick, ghastly rows of pointed bone 
Round which commingled gore and venom clung : 
Raging its flattened head like copper shone, 
And flinty earth returned a heavy groan 
Lashed by quick strokes of its resounding tail ; 
Heard is like uproar when the hills bleak cone 
Is wildly beat by winter's icy flail, 
But in that moment dire the archer did not quail. 



Firm in one hand his trusty bow he held, 
And with the other to its glittering head 
Drew the long shaft while full each muscle swcll'd ; 
A twanging sound ! — and on its errand sped 
The messenger of vengeance : — warm and red 
Gushed from a gaping wound the vital tide — 
Wrenched was the granite from its ancient bed, 
And pines were broken in their leafy pride, 
When throes of mortal pain the monster's coil untied. 

XXVI. 

Down the steep hill outstretched and dead he rolled 
Disgorging human heads in his descent ; 
Oaks that in eartli had deeply fixed their hold 
Like reeds by that revolving mass were bent. 
Splintered their boughs as if by thunder rent: 
High flung the troubled lake its glittering spray, 
And far the beach witli flakes of foam besprent, 
When the huge carcass disappeared for aye 
In depths from whence it rose to curse the beams of day. 

XX vn. 
When winds its murmuring bosom cease to wake 
Through bright transparent waves you may discern 
On the hard, pebbled bottom of the lake 
Skulls changed to stone ; — wlion lires no longer burn 
Kindled by sunset, and tlie glistening urn 



46 

Of night o'erflows with dew the phantomB pale 
Of matron, maid, child, seer and chieftain Btern 
Their ghastly faces to the moon unveil, 
And raise upon the shore a low heart-broken wail 

xxvm. 
The lovers of Genundewah were blest 
By the Great Spirit, and their lodge became 
The nursery of a nation : — when the West 
Opened its gates of parti-colored flame 
To give their souls free passage loud acclaim 
Rang through the Spirit Land, and voices cried 
" Welcome ! ye builders of eternal fame ! 
Ye royal founders of an empire wide 
The stream of joy flows by, quaff ever from its tide ! 

XXIX. 

At Onondaga burned the sacred fire 
A thousand winters with unwasting blaze ; 
In guarding it son emulated sire, 
And far abroad were flung its dazzling rays : 
Followed were happy years by evil days — 
Blue-eyed and pale came Children of the Dawn 
Tall spires on site of bark-built town to raise ; 
Change groves of beauty to a naked lawn, 
And whirl their chariot wheels where led the doe her fawn. 



Where are the mighty ? — morning finds them not .' 
I call — and echo gives response alone ; 
The fiery bolt of Ruin hath been shot. 
The blow is struck — the winds of death have blown ! 
Cold are the hearths — their altars overthrown .• 
For them with smoking venison the board, 
Reward of toilsome chase, no more will groan ; 
Sharper than hatchet proved the conqueror's sword. 
And blood, in fruitless strife, like water they outpoured. 

XXXI. 

The spotted Demon of Contagion came 

Ere the sacred bird of Peace could find a nest, 

And vanished Tribes like summer gra.«s when flame 

Reddens the level prairie of the West, 

Or waating dew drops when the rocky crest 



47 

Of this enchanted hiU is tipped witli pold ; 
And ere ihe Genii of the wild-wood drcst 
With flowers and moss the grave mound's hollowed mould, 
Before the ringing axe went down the forest old. 

XXXII. 

Oh ! where is Gar-an-gu-la — Sachem wise ! 
Who was the father of his people ?— where 
King Hcndrick, Cay-en-guac-to 7~who replies ? 
And Sken-an-do-ah, was thy silver hair 
Brought to the dust in sorrow and despair 
By pale oppression, though thy bow was strong 
To guard their Thirteen Fires ?— they did not spare 
E'en thee, old chieftain, and thy tuneful tongue 
The death-dirge of thy race in measured cadence eung. 

xxxm. 

Thea-an-de-nea-gua* of the martial brow, 
Gy-ant-wa,t Hon-ne-ya-wasJ: where are they ? 
Sa-go-ye-wat-hah IJ is he silent now ? 
No more will listening throngs his voice obey. 
Like visions have the mighty passed away ! 
Their tears descend in rain-drops, and their sighs 
Are heard in wailing winds when evening gray 
Shadows the landscape, and their mournful eyes 
Gleam in the misty light of moon-illumin'd skies. 



Gone are my tribesmen, and another race, 
Bom of the foam, disclose with plough and spade 
Secrets of battle-field and burial-place ; 
And hunting grounds, once dark with pleasant shade, 
Bask in the golden light : — but I have made 
A pilgrimage from far to look once more 
On scenes through which in childhood's hour I strayed, 
Though robbed of might ray limbs, my locks all lioar, 
And on this Holy Mount mourn for the days of yore. 

• 

XXXV, 

Our house is broken open at both ends 

Though deeply set the posts, its timber strong — 

From ruthless foes, and traitors masked as friends, 

Tutored to sing a false but pleasant song 

The Seneca and Mohawk guarded long 

*Urnnt. iCorn Planter. tFnrmer'^Brvthor. (JRed Jackei 



48 

Its blood-stained doors : — the former faced the Bun 
In his decline — the latter watched a throng 
Clouding the eastern hills — their tasks are done ; 
A game for life was played, and prize the white man won, 

XXXVI, 

Around me soon will bloom unfading flowers 
Ye glorious Spirit Islands of the just ! 
No fatal axe will hew away your bowers, 
Or lay the green-robed forest king in dust : 
Far from the spoiler's fury, and his lust 
Of boundless power will I my fathers meet 
Tiaras wearing never dimm'd by rust, 
And they, while airs waft music passing sweet, 
To blest abodes will guide my silver-sandal'd feet. 



NOTES. 

TTie warrior's right his scalp lode to adorn, 

With eagleplumcs in battle hehad worn. — Stanza ix. 

No one but a brave who has slain an enemy in battle, is allowed the distinguished honor 
of wearing eagle feathers. 

Rained from her elk-like eyes. — Stanza xii. 
Objects clear and bright are often compared by the Indian to the elk's eye. The defi- 
nition of Muskingum is — " clear as an elk's eye." 

Born of the foam. — Stanza xxxiv 
The red man believes that the whites sprang from the foam of the salt water. 



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